Building a Civil Society : : Associations, Public Life, and the Origins of Modern Italy / / Steven C. Soper.

• VerfasserIn: Soper, Steven C.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2017]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (320 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Acknowledgments --; Introduction --; 1 In Search of Associational Life --; 2 Poetry and Prose in the Risorgimento --; 3 A New Public --; 4 Popular Capitalism --; 5 Notable Politics --; 6 The Death of a Generation --; 7 Unknown Territory --; Conclusion --; Notes --; Bibliography --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781442664456
• DOI: 10.3138/9781442664456
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Steven C. Soper.

The most passionate advocates of Italy's unification in the nineteenth century possessed an almost limitless faith in the benefits of civic association. They also shared a common concern: once Italian unification was achieved and various freedoms were established, would ordinary Italians naturally become responsible, progressive citizens - especially after centuries of foreign rule, regional division, and economic decline? Most unification advocates doubted that their fellow citizens could form a modern, progressive civil society on their own, or that a vibrant association life would develop from the ground up.Building a Civil Society is the first book-length English-language study of associational life in nineteenth-century Italy. Drawing on extensive research in published and unpublished documents - including associational records, newspapers, periodicals, government documents, guidebooks, exhibition catalogues, memoirs, and private letters - Steven C. Soper provides a complex account of Italian liberalism during Europe's age of association. His study also raises important questions about the role that associations play in emerging democracies.